Chapter 752: Dark Matter Only Runs Away, Accelerator Likes Electrotherapy!
As Ren approached, Frenda Seivelun immediately knelt down, completely prostrating herself on the cold, unforgiving asphalt of the container yard. Her blonde hair spilled over the dirty ground, a stark contrast to her usual vibrant demeanor.
"I surrender! I'm just a harmless Level 0! Please don't kill me!" she squealed, her voice trembling with genuine terror. She clutched her skirt, making herself look as small and non-threatening as possible.
She looked quite pathetic in this state, a far cry from the explosive expert of ITEM.
But in fact, there was another equally pathetic fellow present in the chaotic arena.
That was Kakine Teitoku, the Number Two. The Dark Matter.
Ren's appearance had already made him feel what true, primal fear was. It wasn't the fear of a stronger opponent; it was the fear of a lower dimension facing a higher one.
No flaws!
No weaknesses!
Just one glance, and Kakine understood with chilling clarity that the person before him was impossibly strong, not something any Esper—even one who wielded the laws of physics like playthings—could compare to. It was like staring into the abyss and finding the abyss smiling back.
His survival instinct, honed in the darkness of Academy City, screamed at him to run. As his expression changed from arrogance to calculation, the six white wings on his back unfurled, shimmering with unknown particles that defied earthly logic.
Whoosh!
He soared into the air, fleeing instantly. The sonic boom shattered nearby windows as he accelerated, leaving a trail of white light in his wake. He didn't even try to negotiate.
"Ren, he ran away!"
Misaka Mikoto hurriedly reminded him, pointing at the retreating streak of white light that was rapidly disappearing towards the horizon. Her face was frantic; she knew how dangerous Dark Matter could be if allowed to regroup.
Ren looked at her and curiously asked, his tone unbothered, "Do you have a grudge against him?"
"Uh… it seems… no."
Misaka Mikoto only then realized the situation. Kakine Teitoku seemed to have nothing to do with her directly. Her target, the source of her nightmare, was only Accelerator.
She was completely clueless about why Kakine Teitoku and Mugino Shizuri's ITEM group appeared here tonight. It was a gathering of monsters, a collision of the city's dark side that defied explanation.
Ren shrugged, a faint, almost bored smile playing on his lips. "Well, he's rude. I wouldn't let him escape so easily."
Under everyone's strange gaze—Mikoto's confusion, Shokuhou's curiosity, and ITEM's terror—Kakine Teitoku, who had clearly flown towards the horizon at supersonic speeds, actually flew back.
It defied physics. His wings were beating for escape, his vector propulsion was aimed away, yet his position in space rewound. He landed slowly, his magnificent wings retracting against his will.
But he just stood there, spacing out, his eyes glazed over as if his soul had been plucked from his body.
"What the heck, his state is super scary."
Kakine Teitoku's controlled appearance completely terrified Kinuhata Saiai. She hugged her arms, shivering despite her defensive Nitrogen Armor.
That was the Second-Ranked Level 5! The Dark Matter who claimed he could rival the Number One! And he was standing there like a puppet with its strings cut?
"Don't be afraid, I'm just making him stay put."
Ren explained dangerously, his hands resting on Takitsubo Rikou's stiff shoulders. The warmth of his hands contrasted sharply with the chill in his voice, sending shivers down the AIM Stalker's spine.
But that smile looked especially terrifying in Kinuhata Saiai's eyes. It was the smile of a predator playing with its food.
She stammered, her voice barely a whisper, "You… you controlled him? Like… mental interference? But his Dark Matter should block that!"
"Control? Not really. I just made him fall into an endless dream; he probably thinks he's already escaped from here and is enjoying a fine dinner at a five-star restaurant."
Ren spoke these terrifying words in an understated manner, as if discussing the weather or a TV show.
Even more terrifying was when he suddenly said, "If it were control, this is how it would be."
He snapped his fingers. The sound echoed crisply in the silent yard.
"Kakine Teitoku, backflip on the spot."
As soon as he finished speaking, the dazed Kakine Teitoku—the master of Dark Matter, the man who sought to replace Accelerator—really started backflipping on the spot.
Over and over. Like a broken toy. Like a circus monkey.
Flip. Thud. Flip. Thud.
Ren didn't tell him to stop, so he kept going, his prestigious white coat fluttering with each undignified rotation.
"Hiss!!!"
Frenda buried her face in the ground, trembling violently. "I didn't see anything! I didn't see anything! Please don't make me backflip!"
Accelerator also snapped out of his shock. The absurdity of the situation fueled his rage. The disrespect was palpable.
"No matter who you are, since you chose to challenge me, then die!"
In Academy City, he had to be the strongest. Accelerator believed his purpose in life might only be this. If he wasn't the absolute pinnacle, the One Way Road, then he was nothing but a monster with too much blood on his hands.
So he prepared to attack Ren. He tapped his foot on the asphalt, calculating the vectors to reverse the planet's rotation beneath Ren's feet, intending to tear him apart with centrifugal force.
But then Accelerator noticed something was wrong.
"What's going on?"
He clenched his fist, trying to manipulate vectors as usual. He reached out for the calculations, for the familiar sensation of controlling the world's skin—the wind, the gravity, the kinetic energy.
But there was nothing.
There was no movement whatsoever. The wind hit his face without being redirected. The sound waves entered his ears without being filtered. The gravity pulled at him with its full, unmitigated weight.
Vectors were not under his control?
For the first time in years, the barrier that separated him from the world was gone. He was exposed.
Misaka Mikoto, originally thinking he was trying a sneak attack, rushed forward to block in front of Ren, lightning crackling around her bangs in a defensive screen.
But she only saw Accelerator clenching his fists and stomping his feet on the spot, looking like a confused child who had lost his favorite toy.
She couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, the electricity dimming slightly in her confusion: "What are you doing?"
Ren glanced at him indifferently, his eyes glowing with faint golden light: "Don't waste your energy, I just made your power temporarily disappear. It's gone."
Hearing this, Accelerator, who was frantically trying to activate his power, suddenly looked up. His scarlet eyes, usually filled with madness and boredom, were now wide with a foreign emotion: fear.
"You… made me lose my power? This… impossible!!!"
He screamed, his voice cracking. "I am the One Way Road! I am the strongest! How can you just turn it off?! My calculations are perfect!"
Unfortunately, no matter how much he said it was impossible, it was useless; the facts were right there. The "Reflection" was down. The absolute defense was gone. He was just a skinny boy in a striped shirt.
"What exactly did you do to me?!"
Accelerator's expression was ferocious, veins bulging on his pale forehead. He looked like a cornered beast.
He had always relied on his own power to crush enemies in various challenges and assassinations. It was his armor, his weapon, his identity. It was the wall that kept the world out and his pain in.
It was also because of this that he had to become the strongest, the strongest no one dared to provoke.
Once he lost his power, every cell in his body was filled with fear of the unknown, a sense of insecurity and panic spreading throughout him. The world was suddenly loud, bright, and dangerous. The silence he had cultivated within his reflection barrier was shattered by the cacophony of reality.
This was Accelerator's deepest vulnerability. Underneath the math and the murder, he was just a frail human.
"He lost his power?"
Misaka Mikoto was startled, instantly becoming alert. She looked at the shivering boy who had murdered 10,000 of her sisters without remorse. The boy who had treated their lives like trash.
A cold, vindictive sneer appeared at the corner of her mouth.
"That's just perfect. Although I don't kill people, I won't let the Misaka Sisters' revenge go like this."
She pointed her right index finger at him. The air hummed with high voltage. Iron sand swirled around her ankles.
Zzzzzzzzzzt!
A thick, blue-white arc of lightning erupted from her finger. It wasn't her full-power Railgun, but it was a high-voltage punishment spear.
In Accelerator's horrified eyes, the bolt he would usually reflect effortlessly struck him directly in the chest.
"Ah ah ah ah!!!"
The pain, which he hadn't felt in a long time—years, perhaps—made him let out a chilling scream. His body convulsed as the electricity cooked his nerves. He fell to the ground, twitching uncontrollably, smoke rising from his clothes.
The smell of burnt fabric and singed hair filled the air.
Moreover, Misaka Mikoto didn't hit him hard enough to kill. She held back enough to keep him alive, but not enough to spare him pain.
She merely gave Accelerator a round of intense electrotherapy.
His bones were translucent from the electricity, his body bore traces of the electric shock, and he collapsed, twitching and unconscious, foam forming at the corners of his mouth.
It was already difficult enough for her to suppress the rage of nearly ten thousand Misaka Sisters dying by his hand without directly pulverizing Accelerator.
She was still too kind.
If it were Ren himself, he would at least make Accelerator understand what it meant to wish for death. He would have broken his mind before breaking his body.
However, he couldn't be bothered with Accelerator and Kakine Teitoku. They were boring men who relied too much on their crutches.
Compared to those two men, he was more interested in Mugino Shizuri and the others.
Although they were ITEM, doing dirty work in the dark, each of them was quite attractive.
Especially Mugino Shizuri, that madwoman. Despite her vicious nature and her status as the leader of a dark side organization, in Ren's eyes, she was still a prize to be collected. Her fierce independence was just a flavor to be savored.
He turned his gaze away from the twitching Accelerator and grinned at the four members of Mugino Shizuri's group.
"!!!"
They were already frozen in fear. The scene they had just witnessed defied all logic in Academy City.
The First-Ranked Level 5 lost his ability instantly and was electrocuted like a common thug.
The Second-Ranked Level 5 was completely treated as a toy, flipping endlessly like a broken puppet in the background.
Kinuhata Saiai was trembling, hugging herself. "This is super bad... even the Number One fell in a second... our nitrogen armor is useless against him..."
Frenda was kneeling, not daring to lift her head, muttering prayers to any god that would listen. She clutched her dolls tightly, wishing she had stayed in bed today.
Even Mugino Shizuri was drenched in cold sweat. Her Meltdowner—the power to disintegrate matter—felt useless against a monster who could turn off abilities with a glance. Her legs felt heavy, rooting her to the spot.
She bit her tongue hard, the metallic taste of blood barely managing to calm herself down. She forced herself to meet Ren's gaze, trying to maintain a shred of dignity.
Her voice low and hoarse, she asked, "What exactly do you want to do?"
Ren shrugged, releasing Takitsubo's shoulders but keeping his presence heavy in the air. "I'm just here to see what kind of trouble my dears have encountered."
"De… dears?"
Misaka Mikoto's pretty face flushed red upon hearing that. The lightning around her flickered erratically.
Misaka Sister 9982 tilted her head, looking at Ren with vacant eyes.
"Is this Sister's husband? Misaka says, asking for clarification on the relationship dynamic."
"No, no, no! What nonsense are you talking about?!"
Misaka Mikoto, embarrassed and annoyed, pinched Misaka Sister's cheeks. "Don't listen to him! He's just talking nonsense!"
Misaki Shokuhou, on the other hand, smiled calmly, adjusting her gloves. "Ren probably meant his dear group members. Right?"
"Hmm, you understand me." Ren gave her a thumbs up.
"So you're their person…"
Mugino Shizuri's face was ashen. She realized she had kicked an iron plate. No, a diamond plate.
"I can understand Accelerator being here, but why are you, the Second-Ranked Level 5, and the Fourth-Ranked Level 5, here?"
Misaka Mikoto was very confused by their arrival.
They attacked Accelerator right away, were they common enemies?
Misaki Shokuhou rolled her eyes at her, her star-shaped pupils glinting with intelligence.
"Are you an idiot? Didn't I tell you when I asked Ren for help that Aleister was already targeting us? They must have been sent by the General Superintendent."
"Aleister… We, we completely don't know who that is?"
Kinuhata Saiai shook her head repeatedly. "We just got orders from the top, super anonymously. We didn't know it was a suicide mission!"
Takitsubo Rikou calmed down at this point. Her gaze held fear towards Ren, so she looked at Misaki Shokuhou.
She analyzed a possibility: "Are you talking about… the General Superintendent?"
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